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Crucifixion – Peter Rollins’ Book Insurrection

I am currently reading (and thoroughly enjoying) Peter Rollins’ book Insurrection and just had to post up this quote:

To believe in the Crucifixion means nothing less than participating in it. We miss something crucial if we take the biblical witness as a mere signpost that points to a distant time in history. Christian belief in the Crucifixion is not about accepting some historical event; we are not invited to merely affirm or contemplate the death of Jesus on the cross, but to undergo that death in our own lives. And just as Jesus was cut off from everything that grounded him, so our participation in the Crucifixion will involve the same troubling, terrifying process. (pg 29)

The Apostle Paul speaks of this often…Galatians 2:20 immediately comes to mind, but I don’t think many Western Christians can identify with truly embracing, let alone expecting to experience the terror of “being crucified with Christ.”

Rollins indeed pushes the limits in attempting to move his readers from a place of comfort and rest to one of a more legitimate identification with Christ, a place where in following him we must inevitably die, and not just once, but multiple tragic and painful deaths throughout our lives.

Clearly, this is not easy to accept. Recall how many walked away from Jesus deeply vexed because of his “hard sayings.”

Rollins challenges us to for once take Jesus seriously and to be willing to literally lose everything just as Jesus did…a hard saying, indeed.